With the increase in working time holiday entitlement regulation just coming in, how will I as a freelancer be affected?
All workers have had a right to a certain amount of paid holiday since 1998. In 2001, BECTU won a key judgement at the European Court of Justice to establish that this right also applies to freelance workers from day one of every contract, regardless of its length. For a leave year starting on or after 1 October, 2007, minimum holiday entitlement will be increased from four weeks per annum, to four weeks plus four days per annum. If your leave begins before 1 October, you get a pro rata increase for your current leave year. How to calculate your holiday entitlement from October 2007, daily contracts and five-day weeks: if you are on a daily contract, or a weekly contract based on five-day weeks, your holiday entitlement is 24 days per annum, pro rata for contracts shorter than a year. Therefore on a six-month (26-week) contract your holiday entitlement is 12 days and on a three-month (13-week) contract it is six days. The days you take as paid holiday must be days on which you would ot
